Europa Park Opens New Version of Pirates in Batavia Family Dark Ride

© Europa Park

Ever since the devastating fire that destroyed Europa Park's Pirates in Batavia ride (and most of the Scandinavia themed area) in May of 2018 the park has vowed to rebuild the ride better than ever.  Today they made good on that promise and reopened the all new version of Pirates in Batavia to the public.  Understandably, the park is quite proud of their ability to totally design a brand new ride, featuring modern technology throughout, in a relatively quick turnaround.

The original ride opened in 1987 and featured a trip through Batavia, since known as Jakarta in Indonesia, complete with pirates battling the residents, invading the town and generally running amok in humorous ways.  Yes, there are parallels to Disney's famous Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but the Europa Park version was loved as much by fans and was sorely missed after the fire.

© Europa Park

The new version of the ride features a similar storyline, only with a bit more detail.  Now riders join "Bartholomeus van Robbemond on his search for the mystical Dagger of Batavia, the Fire Tiger.  Legend has it that whoever owns the dagger of Batavia is invulnerable," so that would be quite a find.  The additional story gives the new version of the ride some more depth.

The boat ride takes passengers through Batavia, isolated villages and jungles and includes an 8 minute long journey with over 125 animated characters along the way.  While most of the ride's inhabitants were lost in the fire, some have been preserved and placed in the new ride, giving extra fun for riders to locate.

The park has pulled out the stops and incorporated a ton of modern visual effects and lighting that works so well with large physical sets.  It's a great combination of a classic dark ride, but with a modern twist.

If you want to take your own journey on Pirates in Batavia, check out the video below!